Two Dancing Bacchantes and a Putto
Claude Michel, called Clodion
(French, 1738–1814)
1800
Object PlaceParis, France
Medium/TechniqueTerracotta
DimensionsOverall: 45cm (17 11/16 in.), diameter of base: 17 cm (6 11/16 in.)
Credit LineBequest of Forsyth Wickes—The Forsyth Wickes Collection
Accession number65.2212
On View
Not on viewClassificationsSculpture
Collections
Inspired by ancient works he would have seen in Rome, Clodion created a lively scene of a dance stimulated by wine. In classical mythology, Bacchus and his band of merry-makers inhabited the woods, and Clodion's sylvan figures hold grapes, wear garlands of grape leaves, and carry the thyrsus (the wine-god's magic staff). Their tambourine has fallen to the ground. The sculptor's mastery of the terra cotta medium is evident in the contrasts between the smooth flesh of the women, the chubby rolls of fat of the infant, and the fresh, animated surfaces of the drapery, hair, and leaves.
InscriptionsSigned and dated on back of base; incised in clay before firing: CLODION./1800ProvenanceBaron Gustave de Rothschild (b. 1829 - d. 1911), Paris; by descent to his daughter, Baroness Lucie de Rothschild Lambert (b. 1863 - d. 1916), Brussels; by descent to her son, Baron Henri de Lambert (b. 1887 - d. 1933), Brussels and New York [see note 1]. 1946, Rosenberg and Stiebel, New York; January 21, 1946, sold by Rosenberg and Stiebel to Forsyth Wickes (b. 1876 - d. 1964), New York and Newport, RI; 1965, bequest of Forsyth Wickes to the MFA (Accession Date: December 24, 1965)NOTES:
[1] The provenance of this object, pertaining to the Rothschild and Lambert families, is provided by the sale receipt from Rosenberg and Stiebel to Forsyth Wickes (January 21, 1946). The Rothschild family consigned many works of art to Rosenberg and Stiebel, although it has not been determined whether this object passed directly from their possession to that of the gallery.
